Stigma has stuck to AIDS from the very start. When the virus first began to emerge in the 1980s, it cut a wide swath through two groups that have historically faced their own stigma: gay men and intravenous drug users.

More than 30 years later, however, the face of AIDS has changed. Today’s new HIV patient is statistically likely to be a heterosexual African woman.

But as VOA’s new documentary, Living in the Shadows shows, as the reach of AIDS has expanded, stigma remains from Cambodia to Nigeria to Uganda. It even persists, in 2014, in developed nations like the U.S. and Canada, according to immunologist Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Fauci noted the powerful role of stigma in discussing the famous recent case of the “Mississippi baby” -- an infant born with HIV contracted from her mother, then treated aggressively and put in remission for just over two years before again showing signs of infection. Fauci said the baby’s mother did not receive the prenatal care that would have identified her HIV status and protected the baby from contracting the virus. That failure, he said, is often a consequence of stigma.

“In the United States, a developed nation, there is still, as shown on the film, even in the city that I live in, considerable stigma associated with it, some of which is very subtle, which prevents people from getting into the appropriate care at the appropriate time. So there’s a lot of implications of that," the doctor noted.

In Nigeria, where it is against the law to be gay, gay rights activist Ifeanyi Kelly Orazulike painted a dark picture of the stigma around AIDS and homosexuality.

“It’s incredibly amazing how we have lived through the work we do in Nigeria," Orazulike said. "And how we have been able to survive in terms of enduring that people have access to health care services and access to social justice. Because living, by the day, gets more scarier than it was the previous day.”

And AIDS stigma affects not just patients, but their providers as well. Dr. Julio Montaner has worked in the field for decades, and says that stigma could be holding back important advances. He described, for example, his struggles in getting government approval to set up a safe needle exchange site for drug users in Vancouver, Canada.

“Yet we suffer a stigma by association. I don’t see too many times when my friend who is a cardiologist gets asked, ‘Why do you do this work? What motivates you to do this work? Why are are you so passionate about it?’ I mean, people accept that being a cardiologist you are passionate about cardiac disease. But we get asked that all the time. ‘How the hell do you care about people who use drugs?’ and this and that and the other thing," Montaner said.

He does not offer an answer to that question -- adding why should he have to explain himself any more than any other doctor, treating any other disease?

That’s one of the many questions that haunts this deadly virus, and continues to plague the fight against AIDS.

At this year's annual South by Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas, some musicians from Mali were on hand to promote a film about how their lives were upturned by jihadists who destroyed ancient treasures in the city of Timbuktu and prohibited anyone from playing music under threat of death. As VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from Austin, some are afraid to return to their hometowns even though the jihadists are no longer in control there.

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At this year's annual South by Southwest film and music festival in Austin, Texas, some musicians from Mali were on hand to promote a film about how their lives were upturned by jihadists who destroyed ancient treasures in the city of Timbuktu and prohibited anyone from playing music under threat of death. As VOA’s Greg Flakus reports from Austin, some are afraid to return to their hometowns even though the jihadists are no longer in control there.

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American warplanes joined Iraq's battle against the so-called 'Islamic State' in northern Iraq late Wednesday, as Iraqi ground troops launched a massive assault on Tikrit. Analysts say the offensive could take the coalition a step further towards Mosul, the largest city held by Islamic State forces. Others say it could also deepen already-dangerous sectarian tensions in the region. VOA's Heather Murdock has more from Cairo.

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Tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry in the Philippines. Close to five million foreign visitors traveled there last year, perhaps lured by the country’s tropical beaches. But Jason Strother reports from Manila that the country hopes to entice more travelers to stay indoors and spend money inside new casinos.

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The continued fighting in eastern Ukraine and the shelling of civilian neighborhoods seem to be pushing more men to join the separatist fighters. Many of the new recruits are residents of Ukraine made bitter by new grievances, as well as old. VOA's Patrick Wells reports.

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Islamic State fighter, a prisoner of Kurdish YPG forces, asked his family asking for forgiveness: "I destroyed myself and I destroyed them along with me." The Syrian youth was one of two detainees who spoke to VOA’s Kurdish Service about the path they chose; their names have been changed and identifying details obscured. VOA's Zana Omer reports.

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More is being discovered about the co-pilot in the crash of Germanwings Flight 9525 in the French Alps. Investigators say he was hiding a medical condition, raising questions about the mental qualifications of pilots. VOA's Carolyn Presutti reports.

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In cities with heavily congested traffic, people can get around much faster on a motorcycle than in a car. But a rider who is not sure of his route may have to stop to look at the map or consult a GPS. A Russian start-up company is working to make navigation easier for motorcyclists. Designers at Moscow-based LiveMap are developing a smart helmet with a built-in navigation system, head-mounted display and voice recognition. Zlatica Hoke has more.

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U.S. federal law enforcement agents arrested two suburban Chicago men accused of trying to join ISIS overseas, while also plotting attacks in the United States. As VOA’s Kane Farabaugh reports from the Midwest state of Illinois, one of those arrested is a soldier of the Illinois National Guard.

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Traditional push-rim wheelchairs create a lot of stress for arm, shoulder and neck muscles and joints. A redesigned chair, based on readily available bicycle technology, radically increases mobility while reducing the physical effort. VOA’s George Putic reports.

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Beatrice Yardolo was to make history as Liberia’s last Ebola patient. Liberians recently started counting down 42 days, the period that has to go by without a single new infection until the World Health Organization can declare a country Ebola-free. That countdown stopped on March 20 when there was another new case of Ebola, making Yardolo’s story a reminder that Ebola is far from over. Benno Muchler reports from Monrovia.

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Indigenous communities in Cambodia's Ratanakiri province say the government’s economic land concession policy is taking away their land and traditional way of life, making many fear that their identity will soon be lost. Local authorities, though, have denied this is the case. VOA's Say Mony went to investigate and filed this report, narrated by Colin Lovett.

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One of the films that drew big crowds last week at the annual South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, tells the story of the last human being to stand on the moon, U.S. astronaut Eugene Cernan. It has been 42 years since Cernan returned from the moon and he laments that no one else has gone there since. VOA’s Greg Flakus reports.